The League of Nations & the Manchurian Crisis

Causes of the Manchurian Crisis

Causes of the Manchurian Crisis

• Manchuria was a province of China

  • It bordered Korea, which Japan owned from 1905

  • It was mostly agricultural land

• By March 1932, Japan invaded and controlled the whole of Manchuria

Events of the Manchurian Crisis

Events of the Manchurian Crisis

Consequences of the Manchurian Crisis

Consequences of the Manchurian Crisis

• The League of Nations looked weak

  • The League considered the Lytton Report in February 1933, 18 months after Japan had invaded Manchuria

    • This was too slow to react to a crisis of this scale

  • Britain and France did not want to stand up against Japan

    • Japan was a permanent member of the League

      • It had equal power to Britain and France to veto any actions

    • Britain and France had colonies in the Far East

      • If the League started a war with Japan, it would affect Britain and France’s imperial trade

• The League did not have key countries as members

  • The USA would have the military strength to stand up against Japan

    • In addition, the US was Japan’s key trading partner

  • The USSR did not want Japan to invade closer to its territory and would use force to stop this

• The League’s lack of reaction encouraged further aggression

  • Germany and Italy were also looking to expand their territories

  • Hitler and Mussolini knew now that the League would not stop them from achieving their aggressive foreign policy aims

The World Disarmament Conference, 1932

The World Disarmament Conference, 1932

• During the Manchuria Crisis, the League hosted the World Disarmament Conference

  • The event took place in Geneva, Switzerland

  • It ran from 1932 to 1934

• The Manchuria Crisis affected the success of the conference

  • It proved the weakness of the League against countries with a large military force like Japan

    • This only encouraged countries to pursue a policy of militarism

• The World Disarmament Conference ended in failure in 1934

  • Weimar politicians challenged all countries to disarm to the level of Germany

    • France disagreed with Germany’s proposal

  • Hitler became the leader of Germany in 1933

    • He promised to not rearm Germany if all countries destroyed their weapons in five years

      • Hitler was already secretly rearming Germany

      • France, Czechoslovakia and Poland feared for their safety as they bordered Germany. They refused Hitler’s offer

      • Hitler used this as an excuse to leave the League of Nations in November 1933

Why was the Failure of the World Disarmament Conference Important?

• The League was inactive

  • It took ten years for the League to assemble world leaders to discuss disarmament

• More countries became aggressive

  • Japan and Germany were no longer members of the League

  • Militarism and rearmament began in many countries